Baltimore County Officials have settled a housing discrimination suite with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

As reported in The Baltimore Sun:

After nearly five years of negotiations, county officials agreed to resolve a federal housing discrimination complaint with a deal that U.S. officials called “groundbreaking” in its scope: The county is to spend $30 million over the next decade to entice developers to build 1,000 homes for low-income African-American families in prosperous county neighborhoods.

The county also pledged to help 2,000 families on Section 8 rent subsidies to move from poor, predominantly African-American communities to better-integrated neighborhoods with stronger schools, lower crime and minimal clusters of subsidized homes.

Activists hailed the agreement.

…

Advocates praised Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz for working with them.

The deal targets 116 prosperous census tracts, in which the county will now be obligated to encourage the construction of affordable housing units set aside primarily for low-income African-American families.

For more information read the full article in The Baltimore Sun.